Drew Estate Grand Central

(3.15)
Lose yourself in the hustle and bustle with a bowlful of this mellow blend of tobaccos. You can't quite put your finger on it, but that dense aroma of lightly toasted burley and bright Virginias is awakening your senses.
Notes: 2013 IPCPR release.

Details

Brand Drew Estate
Blended By Nicholas Mellilo
Manufactured By Scandinavian Tobacco Group
Blend Type Aromatic
Contents Burley, Virginia
Flavoring Apricot, Fruit / Citrus
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 50 grams tin
Country Denmark
Production No longer in production

Profile

Strength
Very Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Very Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.15 / 4
5

6

1

1

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 11 of 13 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 01, 2014 Medium to Strong Mild to Medium Full Very Pleasant
I bought this blend as one of the blends to try while reviewing Drew Estate tobaccos. I like all types of blends including aromatics so I feel I can give it an honest review.

Upon opening the tin, I am greeted with a very powerful and pleasant aroma of apricots and coconut and maybe a little vanilla. It smells very sweet, very desert like and appeals to my sweet tooth. It is very moist but does not appear to contain a large amount of preservatives thus not too sticky. It was too moist to smoke right off but after a couple of days left open, it dried enough to be enjoyable. It is a multicolored blend, running from very light khaki to a dark almost black. It is a ribbon cut and packed tightly on the tin.

It packs easily in the pipe and is fairly easy to light, requiring only the initial light and after tamping, one relight. It has a great room note with to me a scent of toasted marshmallows and quite frankly that is also the flavor I get from it as well. As others have said, if smoked too fast it will give some tongue bite, but if savored slowly it has a very pleasant, rich, and mild flavor. It burns mice and slow down the bowl, requiring a relight now and then, but very enjoyable. It burns to a steel gray ash with very little dottle at the bottom of the bowl. This is surprising in an aromatic. I have to say, this is a very nice aromatic and is one most aromatic smokers should try and enjoy. Well done Drew Estates.
Pipe Used: briar, meershum, corn cob
PurchasedFrom: Pipesandcigars.com
Age When Smoked: 6 months
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 22, 2014 Very Mild Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant
I'm glad I went deeper into this tin before I gave a review for Grand Central. At first I was disapointed as it tasted a great deal like 7th Ave. Blonde. Its been my experience with Drew Estate aromatics that after the inital releasing of the seal and the atom bomb explosion of the fragance, they tend to settle down and come into their own. Days after the explosion Grand Central began to distinguish itself from 7th Ave. Blonde and any other of my aromatics.

Grand Central is a decent and handsome tobacco of Bright VA leaf, nice brown burley and cavendish which carries a nice bright fruity fragrance. It arrived at the perfect smoking moisture and takes easy to match. It doesnt leave a film in your bowl but does leave a nice lingering ghost of fruit. The room note fragance is something that livens or perks things up around you. The tobacco does come through along with the sweetness of fruit and coconut. Think the three words here that describes Grand Central is Bright, Fruity and Sweet. You can take this train anywhere you want to perk things up.

Pipe Used: Corn Cob, Patriot and Washington. Bertram Prince.
PurchasedFrom: Pipe and Cigars.com
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 25, 2014 Very Mild Medium Medium Very Pleasant
I find I really enjoy most of Drew Estate's pipe tobaccos, so perhaps my opinion is biased in that respect, but i find this one to be one of my favorites. It smokes very smooth and lights fairly easily. If you draw on it like a train it will bite you, but if you take your time with it that problem seems to be dampened. You get a taste of what seems to be apricot and perhaps a mild vanilla. Very sweet and enjoyable if you like sweet blends. It's not for everyone, but in my opinion should be tried atleast once.
PurchasedFrom: Up In Smoke Clarksville TN
Age When Smoked: New
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 01, 2014 Mild Strong Full Tolerable
very good flavor and taste from apricot and coconut. but only for aromatic lovers because the flavor is very strong. good for dessert for dinner.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 17, 2013 Very Mild Very Mild Very Mild Very Pleasant
I am not a huge aromatic smoker. I am a fan of acid cigars, though, and I am in love with meat pie. This one is very mild and I'm having a tough time getting some real flavor out of it. I will give it some time, though, because I will say that this blend has the absolute BEST tin note I have ever smelled. It is like creamy apricots with hints of toasted coconut.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 26, 2013 Medium Strong Full Pleasant
Grand Central by Drew Estate has a nice strong aroma of fruit and coconut to me when I opened the tin. I packed a new cob pipe and let it sit about 20 minutes before the first light. The aroma continued throughout the length of the smoke. This is an enjoyable tobacco for me since I am a fan of Acid cigars. Cost wise the 50g tin was 7.95 at a B&M I like to visit here in NC.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 22, 2015 Mild to Medium Medium to Strong Mild to Medium Overwhelming
Typically not an aromatic smoker I do like good virginia/burley and for me....this is not it! All I can smell is Shea butter, it's so overwhelming that it distracts me from any flavor this tobac might have. Just cracked the tin today so we will see if it melows out but for this I fear it will not be in rotation.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 01, 2014 Mild to Medium Medium Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
I think that this blend is everything the aromatic smoker would want in his or her pipe. Tin note, room note and mustache note are all fantastic.

I typically like aros that allow the base tobacco to come through, but this one would be t he exception. You really don't taste the base tobacco on this one, but unlike other aros where the topping fades from existence leaving nothing but hot air afterward, the topping on this one carries through to the end of the bowl.

This was my first go with a drew estate blend, and I am looking forward to trying more as a result. I was given about a six bowl sample and smoked through it all in one day. I had it in briar and cob and the result was fantastic in both.

Four aromatic stars.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 18, 2014 Mild to Medium Very Mild Full Very Pleasant
You know how you have a bunch of shirts in the closet, but keep reaching for the same few every time? DE-GC has become the one I reach for. It's kind of addictive. I do not find the flavoring in the tin note -- seemingly apricot and caramel -- that strong, as have some reviewers, and the flavoring scent is more pronounced in the tin than the smoke. But the tin note is for me addictive. (Quit smelling the can and light up, already.) I get a strong chocolate note in the smoke with a hint of apricot.

If you puff hard it will bite a little (moisture is about right) and get a bit hot; so don't do that. Makes great, thick smoke, just enjoy it. Also, don't find it ghosting my pipe very much.

Bought this on ebay; seller had a second tin whose seal had been broken but was still pretty fresh, which he threw in, gratis. That's why I chose this blend, actually: two tins. Hog heaven. It tastes good as you smoke it, and the smoke curling around you is delicious. Those around me love the room note; they say even better than MB Golden Extra, which they adore.

For now, this is my fav blend. Yeah, I like it.
Pipe Used: Bent apple with 1"-wide chamber
PurchasedFrom: Ebay
Age When Smoked: New
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 03, 2021 Medium Strong Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
I've been pretty happy with the Drew Estate blends I've smoked, so far. The current blend, Grand Central, is a little bit of an exception and it involves the odorant applied to this mixture. When I opened the tin I didn't have to guess if it was an aromatic; it was in my face immediately. I was assailed by a very strong odor of citrusy fruit that completely hid the base tobacco aroma. If you crossed a peach with an orange, you would get something akin to the odor of my tin. To make matters worse, it had been applied way too densely and would be a better presentation at half that strength. Otherwise, Grand Central made a handsome and normal looking ribbon cut mixture with a fairly wide range of colors. Smoking it right away was out of the question and I aired out a sample overnight to smoke the next morning. This proved to not be enough time as the initial smoke was dominated by the added aroma all the way into the bottom third. Additional air out time reduced this effect until, finally, you could smoke the base tobacco to your satisfaction. What we have here, minus the alcoholic fruit/citrus aroma, is a quite descent VaBur that smokes straight forward in a satisfying and familiar way. More annoying than awful, the strong odorant just gets in the way of my smoking enjoyment. I used the aired out version in blending and that went well. So, I'm recommending Grand Central as a solid VaBur smoke at three stars, if you can find it under all that overzealously applied odor.
Pipe Used: Steve Weiner Dublin Bing Crosby
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: seven years old
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 08, 2020 Mild Very Mild Medium Pleasant
Upon opening the tin, one is greeted with a beautiful aromatic fragrance...not one drenched with casing, but natural high-end tobacco lightly enhanced.

Normally, when I smoke an aromatic, I am that guy that wants the extra flavor, and don’t find a need with lightly flavored tobaccos. Saying that, I found this one extremely pleasant to smoke. Yes, it is not heavily flavored, but the blend of tobacco is so well done...it was a pleasure.

Burns very well...no tongue bite. Room note is pleasant. My wife enjoys it.

Overall, I would recommend this. It makes me want to revisit Davidoffs Danish Mixture which I completely wrote off years ago because lack of casing.
Pipe Used: Ben Wade
PurchasedFrom: Pipes&Cigars
Age When Smoked: 1 year
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